Cold Blooded by Bernard Lee DeLeo Read Free Book Online Page A

and repeated the maneuver, bringing the Malibu up behind the Buick.
    “Grace Stanwick.”
    “Grace, I have a bogey here and I’m wondering if it’s one of yours.” Nick flashed his lights on and hurriedly read off the license plate number as the Buick’s brake lights lit up.
    “How’d you get through without your ID flashing on my screen, Nick?”
    “Quit talking and get looking, Grace,” Nick ordered, swerving around and ahead of the Buick once again, glancing back to make sure Deke was still okay. The dog had spread his paws to stabilize motion.
    “Wait one, damn it, I’m checking!”
    Nick accelerated far ahead of the Buick, turned out his lights, and reversed his direction once again. This time, he opened the driver’s side window, picked up the MAC 10, and cradled it over the window frame.
    “Hurry, Grace, time’s running out.” Nick calmly slowed the Chevy. The Buick decreased speed but kept coming. Nick anchored the MAC 10, the top pad of his right index finger gently beginning to squeeze the trigger.
    “They’re ours, Nick! Where are you and what do you mean time’s running out?”
    Nick turned on his lights, set the MAC 10 down, and accelerated back toward McDonalds. “I’ll be with Kim and Sarah in a few minutes at a McDonalds on Arroyo Circle in Gilroy. I’ll let you find out what this is all about. Call in to Kim’s cell-phone, okay?”
    “Count on that,” Grace retorted angrily, ending the call.
    Slowing his Malibu down, Nick picked up the MAC 10, cradling it next to his chest as the Buick Lacerne shot by him. A block away from the McDonalds parking lot, Nick packed away his phone and weapon. He let Deke jump to the front while Nick reformed the baggage in the rear passenger compartment. Nick shook his head in disbelief as he entered the McDonalds parking lot and saw both Rachel and Jean standing outside the door. Nick parked the Chevy. He eased out of the seat looking over at Rachel with undisguised disappointment.
    “Do you have any survival instincts at all?”
    “Grace called me. She said we no longer have a tail and to call her when I saw you.”
    “Can we at least go back inside please?” Nick motioned them to the restaurant door. “I’ll get another iced tea and then give Grace a call. Please don’t come out in the open again when we’re still determining our situation.”
    “Sorry…I’m glad to see you,” Rachel added.
    “I’m growing on you, huh?”
    “No, I left my purse in your car with all our money and credit cards.”
    Nick laughed, pointing at Rachel. “Good one. Want anything else to drink.”
    “No…and neither do you,” Rachel said to Jean, just as the little girl was about to order.
    A few minutes later, Nick had his iced tea, and Rachel’s cell-phone with Grace on the other end of the line.
    “It will amuse you to know my co-workers in the Buick never saw anything like what you pulled off out there on the road in the dark.”
    “I -”
    “Already read it, Nick,” Grace cut him off. “Our Diego learned racing skills for
Racing Terror
, and of course you again have a cover for your antics. Do you have any idea how annoying you’re getting to be?”
    “Shouldn’t we be talking about how I grew a tail in spite of complete secrecy?”
    “I’d rather not.”
    “I’ll bet,” Nick chuckled. “Someone’s watching you and Tim. Do you know either of the people in the Buick?”
    “Both of them, and yes, Tim and I will be talking to them tomorrow morning in Sacramento. I wish I could tell you how confident I am about your trip home and continued anonymity. We shouldn’t have brought you into this but we’re in over our heads now. Think of this as a writing research bonanza, Nick.”
    “I’m going to give you a huge black mole right on your nose in the book, Grace, and you’ll be a bed wetter, and you’ll scratch inappropriate places, and even the pet gerbil you’ll have as your only companion will hate your guts… and -”
    Nick paused as